They Just Keep Getting Better: Laherte Frères Champagnes
3/6/13 -
(Chavot under a blanket of snow.)
We’ve been following the progress of Laherte Frères Champagnes with keen interest for several years, since we had the good fortune to meet the talented Aurélian Laherte at a trade show in Italy. We’re drawn to these wines for their intense acidity, their long, mineral-laden finishes, and the variety of cuvées offered by this excellent Domaine. We find distinction and personality in these wines, which is crucial. (There’s a lot of Champagne out there.) We admire the eagerness with which Aurélian, seventh generation winemaker at Laherte Frères, constantly strives to improve in the vineyard and cellar, efforts that we can taste in the wines. Presently half of Laherte’s ten hectares are farmed biodynamically and half are farmed organically. Old barrels and native yeasts preside in the cellar. Aurélian Laherte certainly shares our convictions about what makes great wine. Just back from Champagne and a very chilly visit to Laherte Frères, we’re happy to report that these wines just keep getting better.
Laherte Frères are truly “grower” in spirit and mentality, though technically classified as a négociant because the various participating family members sell grapes to one another. Located in the Coteaux Sud d’Epernay, the area just south of Epernay between the Vallée de la Marne and the Côte des Blancs, Laherte Frères farms an incredible number of micro-terroirs with something like 75 parcels in total. The Coteaux Sud d’Epernay has the good fortune to feature both chalk and clay soils; the chalk imparts shelly aromas and porous, mouth-coating minerals to the wines; the clay gives ripe and supple flavors and textures to the wines. It’s a dynamite combination and we love the way Laherte Frères shepherds these soil types into the bottle. We find the “house style” at Laherte Frères to be wonderfully earthy with abundant rustic charm.
Even for Champagnes, these wines are particularly acid-driven. Aurélian prefers low dosages and the majority of the cuvées receive six grams or less. One of our favorite offerings from Laherte Frères, the Blanc de Blancs Brut Nature, receives no dosage at all and has delightful transparency and a delicious, zippy, rocky freshness that suits our tastes just fine. Laherte Frères does especially fine work with Pinot Meunier and typically the Meuniers (unlike Laherte’s other cuvées) undergo maloloactic fermentation, which complements the full, ripe, generous character of the grape. Laherte’s Rosé de Saignée from old vine Meunier is a favorite at Chambers Street. And let us not forget Laherte’s “Les Clos,” recently renamed “Les 7,” as refined an example of an ancient variety Champagne as we’ve tried featuring Fromonteau (Pinot Gris), Arbanne, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier, Petit Meslier, which are co-harvested and co-fermented. The wine is a “perpetual cuvèe,” like a solera, which means any given bottling comprises every vintage since the first: 2005. Stunning. Salut! -Sophie
